Get your head out of the gutter. Really, there is no way to talk about this without it sounding dirty. But here, in the cold rural mountains of Albania, wood is not dirty- it is important and helpful and keeps me warm all winter long (ok, that sounded dirty too!). Anyway, I am now the proud owner of two square meters of wood. This wood, now stacked below my stairs, will probably last me about half of the winter (depending on how cold it is, how much I am traveling and how much of a wimp I am). I could only buy two meters now because this is all that I can store and keep dry under my stairs. You can tell that winter is coming here because of all of the woodpiles outside of just about every building. Apparently, last year at this time they had already had their first snowstorm, so maybe this will actually be a mild winter (or maybe it will be much worse later on). The weather here has actually been pretty nice for the past few weeks- foggy mornings, sunny days, and chilly evenings. Down in Tirana and near the coast, the weather last week was still really nice, with temps in the 60s or 70s (still t-shirt weather in Durres last weekend). The biggest problem I am facing, like in the summer with no air conditioners, is that the buildings are not well insulated, so it is often colder inside than it is outside right now. But that will soon change and I’m prepared: I have a whole lot of wood.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
I have wood
Get your head out of the gutter. Really, there is no way to talk about this without it sounding dirty. But here, in the cold rural mountains of Albania, wood is not dirty- it is important and helpful and keeps me warm all winter long (ok, that sounded dirty too!). Anyway, I am now the proud owner of two square meters of wood. This wood, now stacked below my stairs, will probably last me about half of the winter (depending on how cold it is, how much I am traveling and how much of a wimp I am). I could only buy two meters now because this is all that I can store and keep dry under my stairs. You can tell that winter is coming here because of all of the woodpiles outside of just about every building. Apparently, last year at this time they had already had their first snowstorm, so maybe this will actually be a mild winter (or maybe it will be much worse later on). The weather here has actually been pretty nice for the past few weeks- foggy mornings, sunny days, and chilly evenings. Down in Tirana and near the coast, the weather last week was still really nice, with temps in the 60s or 70s (still t-shirt weather in Durres last weekend). The biggest problem I am facing, like in the summer with no air conditioners, is that the buildings are not well insulated, so it is often colder inside than it is outside right now. But that will soon change and I’m prepared: I have a whole lot of wood.
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1 comment:
I wish I could say I have "two square meters of wood"... (still sounds dirty). :)
I am looking forward to building my first fire of the winter soon. I have a fireplace in my bedroom, but it's largely decorative; the way it's built the majority of the heat just goes up the chimney. Still, it's pretty... :)
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